The prior art discloses examples of drum muting apparatus for attenuating the volume or tone of percussion instruments, but none provide the combination of features disclosed and claimed herein.
Da Silva Marques U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,543 issued Dec. 24, 1996 discloses a musical instrument with a semi-circular or toroidal bladder disposed inside a drum. At least one of the outer skins are removed from the drum, a bladder is filled with air and placed inside the drum. The outer skin is then re-installed onto the drum. This invention serves the purpose of dampening the volume from the drum, but if the volume is too loud or too soft, the skin from the drum must be removed, and the amount of air in the bladder adjusted. The skin must then be re-installed and checked to determine if the volume is acceptable. In addition to the problems with adjusting the air with the bladder, if the user wants to play the drum without the dampening, the skin must be removed to remove or adjust the bladder.
Crago et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,376 issued Feb. 18, 1992 discloses a bass drum acoustic muffling apparatus that comprises a pillow or bladder installed inside a drum. The volume of the drum is adjusted by tightening or loosening a band connected to the pillow. When the band is pulled, the pillow is pulled away from one of the skins of the drum. When the tension on the band is released, the pillow is brought against the skin of the drum and the volume from the drum is reduced. This invention provided dampening of the volume from the drum, but the dampening effects only one of the skins, and the pillow may change the tone from the drum in addition to the volume from the drum.
Peraino U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,839 issued May 24, 1988 discloses a drum mute that is an air or foam filled pillow held within the drum with a rod that spans the sides of the drum. The position of the supporting rod and the amount of air pressure in the pillow determine the amount of attenuation to the volume from the drum. This invention serves the purpose of dampening the volume from the drum but the adjustment method is difficult, if the user wants to play the drum without the dampening, the skin must be removed to remove or adjust the air within the bladder.
Various prior inventions have been disclosed that attempt to provide percussion muting apparatus, but none of the listed inventions provide a pneumatic drum muting system that can be adjusted without removal of one or more skins from a drum. The ideal invention would provide muting from none to the maximum using only the existing holes fabricated with the drum. The proposed invention provides these features.